Patti Austin

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Patti Austin
Austin in 2000
Austin in 2000
Background information
Born (1950-08-10) August 10, 1950 (age 71)
Harlem, New York, U.S.
GenresR&B, pop, jazz
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter
Years active1955–present
LabelsCTI, Qwest, GRP, Shanachie
Websitepattiaustin.com

Patti Austin (born August 10, 1950) is an American R&B, pop, and jazz singer and songwriter.

Music career[]

Austin was born in Harlem, New York, to Gordon Austin, a jazz trombonist.[1] She was raised in Bay Shore, New York on Long Island.[2] Quincy Jones and Dinah Washington have referred to themselves as her godparents.[3][4]

When Austin was four years old, she performed at the Apollo Theater.[4] As a teenager she recorded commercial jingles and worked as a session singer in soul and R&B.[4] She had an R&B hit in 1969 with "Family Tree".[4] She sang backing vocals on Paul Simon's 1975 number-one hit "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover". The jazz label CTI released her debut album, End of a Rainbow, in 1976.[5] She sang "The Closer I Get to You" for Tom Browne's album Browne Sugar, a duet with Michael Jackson for his album Off the Wall, and a duet with George Benson on "Moody's Mood for Love".[5] After singing on Quincy Jones's album The Dude, she signed a contract with his record label, Qwest, which released Every Home Should Have One with "Baby, Come to Me", a duet with James Ingram that became a No. 1 hit on the Billboard magazine pop chart.[5] A second duet with Ingram, "How Do You Keep the Music Playing", appeared on soundtrack to the film Best Friends (1982).[5] GRP released her album Love Is Gonna Getcha, which contained the singles "Good in Love" and "Through the Test of Time".[5]

Patti Austin sings with the Moscow Jazz Orchestra at the Sochi Jazz Festival in Russia in August 2017.

Austin was booked for United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, but because her mother suffered a stroke days before, she cancelled her ticket and flew at a different time.[6]

In 2000 she performed with the WDR Big Band.[4] Her album The Real Me contained versions of jazz standards, while For Ella was a tribute to jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald.[4][5] In 2003, she collaborated with Frances Yip on Papillon III in the rotunda of San Francisco City Hall to help the Jade Ribbon Campaign of Stanford University. A companion CD/DVD was released with Austin and Yip singing duets in Mandarin.[7]

During a 2007 interview, Austin spoke of reluctantly attending as a teenager one of Judy Garland's last concerts and how the experience helped focus her career. "She ripped my heart out. I wanted to interpret a lyric like that, to present who I was at the moment through the lyric."[8]

In 2011, Sound Advice was released containing cover versions of Bob Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody", Brenda Russell's "A Little Bit of Love", the Jackson Five's "Give It Up", Bill Withers' "Lean on Me", and Don McLean's "Vincent". The album also included "The Grace of God", a song Austin wrote after watching an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show which included a woman with scarred face. Austin appeared in the documentary film 20 Feet from Stardom, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released on 21 June 2013.

In 2015, Austin appeared on Patrick Williams' Home Suite Home large jazz ensemble album, as vocalist for Williams' composition "52nd & Broadway," which won a Grammy for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals.[9]

Patti Austin was among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.[10]

Awards and honors[]

Discography[]

Studio albums[]

Year Album Chart positions[13] Record label
US
[14] 		US
R&B
[14] 		US
Jazz
[14] 		UK
[15]
1976 End of a Rainbow — — 31 — CTI
1977 Havana Candy 116 — — —
1980 Body Language — 62 28 —
1981 Every Home Should Have One 36 16 9 99 Qwest
1984 Patti Austin 87 — — —
1985 Gettin' Away with Murder 182 25 — —
1988 The Real Me — 56 7 —
1990 Love Is Gonna Getcha 93 45 4 — GRP
1991 Carry On — 75 13 —
1994 That Secret Place — — 12 —
1996 Jukebox Dreams (Japan Only) — — — — Pony Canyon
1998 In & Out of Love — — — — Concord
1999 Street of Dreams — — — — Intersound / Platinum
2001 On the Way to Love — — 21 — Warner Bros.
2002 For Ella — — 7 — Playboy Jazz / Concord
2003 "Papillon" featuring Patti Austin and Frances Yip — — — — Independence Label
2007 Avant Gershwin — — 5 — Rendezvous
2011 Sound Advice — — 15 — Shanachie
2016 Mighty Musical Fairy Tales — — — — Let's Roar
"—" denotes the album failed to chart and/or was not released in that territory

Live albums[]

Year Album Chart positions[13] Record label
US
[14] 		US
R&B
[14] 		US
Jazz
[14]
1979 Live at the Bottom Line — — 33 CTI
1992 Live — — 20 GRP
2017 Ella and Louis — — — ABC Jazz
"—" denotes the album failed to chart and/or was not released in that territory

Singles[]

Year Single Peak positions Album
US R&B
[14] 		US Hot 100
[14] 		US A.C
[14] 		US Dance
[14] 		UK
[15][16]
1965 "I Wanna Be Loved / A Most Unusual Boy" — — — — — (Coral 45 #62471)
1966 "Take Away The Pain Stain" — — — — — (Coral 45 #62491)
1969 "The Family Tree" 46 — — — — (United Artists 45 #50520)
1971 "Black California" — — — — — (Columbia 45 #45410)
1972 "Day by Day" — — — — — (Columbia 45 #45592)
1977 "Say You Love Me" 63 — — — — End of a Rainbow
1978 "Love, I Never Had It So Good" 60 — — — — Sounds...and Stuff Like That!!
"We're in Love" 90 — — — — Havana Candy
1980 "Body Language" 45 — — — — Body Language
1981 "Do You Love Me?" / "The Genie" 24 — — 1 76 Every Home Should Have One
"Razzamatazz" (w/ Quincy Jones) 17 — — — 11 The Dude
"Betcha Wouldn't Hurt Me" (w/ Quincy Jones) — — — — 52
"Every Home Should Have One" 55 62 24 — — Every Home Should Have One
1982 "Baby, Come to Me" (w/ James Ingram) 9 1 1 — 11
1983 "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" (w/ James Ingram) 6 45 5 — — Duets
"In My Life" 92 — — — — In My Life
1984 "It's Gonna Be Special" 15 82 — 5 — Patti Austin
Two of a Kind original soundtrack
"Rhythm of the Street" 33 — — 11 96 Patti Austin
"Shoot the Moon" 49 — — 16 —
1985 "Honey for the Bees" 24 — — 6 — Gettin' Away with Murder
"Gettin' Away with Murder" 72 — — — —
"Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" (w/ Narada Michael Walden) 39 106 — — 87 The Nature of Things
1986 "The Heat of Heat" 13 55 — 14 76 Gettin' Away with Murder
1990 "Through the Test of Time" 60 — 9 — — Love Is Gonna Getcha
1991 "Givin' Into Love" 55 — — — — Carry On
1992 "I'll Keep Your Dreams Alive" (w/ George Benson) — — — — 68 Darlings Delight
1994 "Reach" — — — 4 — That Secret Place
"—" denotes the single failed to chart and/or was not released in that format

Filmography[]

Year Film Role
1978 The Wiz The Wiz Singers Children's Choir / The Wiz Singers Adult Choir (voice)
1988 Tucker: The Man and his Dream Millie
2013 20 Feet from Stardom Herself

See also[]

  • List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
  • List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart

References[]

  1. ^ "Patti Austin - biography". encyclopedia.com. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  2. ^ "The New Patti Austin". Retrieved September 23, 2014.
  3. ^ Murph, John. "Patti Austin: 5 Tips for Aspiring Singers". aarp.org. AARP. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Yanow, Scott (2008). The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide. Backbeat. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-87930-825-4.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Wynn, Ron. "Patti Austin". AllMusic. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  6. ^ White, Beverly; Brayton, Julie. "Singer Patti Austin Talks About 9/11 Experience". NBC Los Angeles. Retrieved September 11, 2016.
  7. ^ Engardio, Joel P. (May 22, 2002). "Dim Sum Diva". SF Weekly. San Francisco.
  8. ^ "Topic Galleries". baltimoresun.com. Archived from the original on May 13, 2007. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
  9. ^ "Grammy Award Results for Pat (Patrick) Williams". grammy.com. November 19, 2019. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  10. ^ Rosen, Jody (June 25, 2019). "Here Are Hundreds More Artists Whose Tapes Were Destroyed in the UMG Fire". The New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  11. ^ "Patti Austin". Grammy.com. February 15, 2019. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  12. ^ "Jazz Beat: Sonny Rollins, Herb Alpert, Thelonious Monk". MTV News. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b "Patti Austin US chart history". AllMusic. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j "Patti Austin US chart history". Billboard.com. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b "Patti Austin Official Charts Company". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
  16. ^ "Quincy Jones - full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 4, 2021.

External links[]

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